CSS

Just two valuable links to information about how to avoid other browsers taking into account Mozilla-specific hacks:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS_Reference/Mozilla_Extensions
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/952861/targeting-only-firefox-with-css

Courtesy of Julio Montoya and the authors of the respective pages.

This might come in handy some time http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/css-only-scrollable-timeline-2/ [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="CSS only timeline allows this kind of thing"]

For those of you lucky enough to have tried a fixed-width layout in Dokeos, you will probably have fallen across the horrible background-color line bug that appears just below the banner... [caption id="attachment_428" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A background-colored bar appears below the banner"]

eTiny (OpenERP's web server) shows default header images and style that might not really suit your needs. [caption id="attachment_396" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="OpenERP with default style"]

A few weeks ago, I explained how to change the Dokeos footer to make it "float". Today, in the context of an indirect contract with the Ministry of Education in Peru, I have to change the style a little bit more. The idea is to [1] have a left bar showing large tools icons in the course homepage, and [2] have an alternative portal homepage for users, showing an introductory screen of the main general tools. This must all work on a 800x600 screen (which is a real challenge).

[1] Left toolbar showing course tools

This is not as tricky as it sounds (although it's very close to it).

For the ones of you who are using their own CSS, there are a few changes that have appeared in Dokeos 1.8.5 that might affect you... First of all, we have removed the "default" style (in the Dokeos package, that is, so it won't affect you if you are migrating from a 1.8.x).

I don't know about you, but I really don't like the Dokeos footer moving around the screen when there's less content. Luckily, CSS offer an easy way to change this. Let's say I want to update the css/dokeos_classic/ theme. The rule, as always, is to make a copy of the directory that is the closest to what I want, and only work on a copy, so I'm going to do that.

[digg=http://www.digg.com/programming/Tips_and_tricks_for_using_pseudo_CSS_in_OpenLaszlo_4] Having had to deal with this stuff lately with the Dokeos videoconference development, I thought it might be useful. The mainstream page is located on the Dokeos wiki, so in the following weeks, I recommend, looking at it over there. Here goes... The new version of the videoconference tool (to be out at the same time as Dokeos 1.8.5) can be theme-modified via CSS.